Supreme Court ruled six to three in Vernonia School District vs. Acton that schools could randomly test student athletes for drug use and the Todd case in the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998 extended the right to all participants in extracurricular activities. I agree with the previous case law and because of it, I will affirm the resolution. Resolved: United States schools are justified in drug testing students who participate in extracurricular activities.
I will offer the following definitions to clarify any uncertainty. All definitions are from the Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary of 2001. .
Justified - proving or showing to be just, right, or reasonable .
Drug - a substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
Testing - critical examination, observation, or evaluation .
Extracurricular - of or relating to officially or semiofficially approved and usually organized student activities connected with school .
OB 1 - Because of what the resolution implies, we should limit the debate to currently illegal drugs.
Today's debate is about whether society's want to combat the problem of illegal drug use among minors should supersede the supposed right to privacy. For the past few years there has been widespread debate on this issue. But, what we must really take into consideration is the clear and present danger of drug use among teenagers in the United States. Current measures to tackle drugs at the source are not succeeding and we as a society must take further steps to deal with and solve the problem. .
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V - The affirmative offers the value of societal progress. Societal progress has been the root of historical movement from the past through the present and the future. Having a drug-ruled community leaves no room for societal progress. In the past, the condition of primitiveness advanced and should continue to advance with better societal progress.
